International. Two of the world's leading transport refrigeration companies recently announced that they will offer R452A refrigerant as an alternative to R404A in their transport refrigeration units.
Thermo King has confirmed the first delivery in Europe of the new SLXe units with the R452A refrigerant to Il Gruppo Lando, the Italian operator of the iperlando and Lando supermarket chain.
For its part, Carrier Transicold stated that while it was actively working towards replacing current HFC refrigerants with CO2, it will soon introduce R452A as an option across its Vector refrigeration trailer and Supra refrigeration truck product range. Customers will also have the option to convert existing units to operate in R452A.
According to both companies, the R452A offers the same coolability, reliability and fuel efficiency as the R404A. In addition, micro-channel condensers allow for an even lower refrigerant charge.
R404A is particularly affected by the EU F-Gas Regulation, which came into force on 1 January 2015, due to its high global warming potential (3922). R452A cannot be considered to have a low global warming potential for refrigerant due to its relatively high GWP of 2140. However, it has the advantage of being a drop-in alternative to R404A.
